As angry as I’ve been – Huddersfield boss Lee Grant fumes after Exeter draw

Huddersfield boss Lee Grant was furious after his side dropped points late on in a 2-2 draw at home to Exeter.

The visitors twice fought back from behind to snatch a point, with substitute Jayden Wareham’s equaliser coming in the 88th minute after a second half dominated by Exeter.

Marcus Harness fired the hosts in front after 18 minutes, only for Reece Cole to level, but Bojan Radulovic restored Huddersfield’s advantage two minutes before the break.

Grant said: “This is as angry as I’ve been, I’m so disappointed in our second-half performance.

“We lacked intensity in the second half, we didn’t prevent them from playing through, we didn’t show enough willingness to do all of the dirty, horrible stuff to protect the middle of the pitch.

“We tried to make substitutions to affect it and it didn’t. We suffered in the same way, which was a real disappointment for me, having made very clear that I felt as though that would be the thing to tip the game in our favour. It just didn’t play out that way.

“We’ve learned harsh lessons before in terms of how we’ve gone about things in second halves and again that ends up a frustration for me.

“So I’m disappointed in how we’ve set about it and how the second half has played out and the last goal typifies it.

“It’s a cascade of lack of intensity, not stopping a cross, poor decision making, not getting contact in the right moments and a goal at the end of it. Yes, it’s a wonderful finish, but just not good enough.”

Exeter assistant coach Dan Green revealed his side’s late fightback was no coincidence, saying they had purposefully set out to preserve energy for a big finale.

He said: “They’re both brilliant goals because of the individual qualities that they showed, but also the structure that was within it – so two brilliant goals and that’s probably the reward for the effort that they put in.

“We came in with the intention of making this a 55-60 per cent possession game on the basis of this being our fourth game in quick succession.

“There’s a way to go into the final 10 minutes of this game with energy and that was how we felt we needed to do it, so that was intentional.

“We’ve learned from the different away games we’ve had this season and off the back of every game we try and learn, we try and improve and try and put different things in place, ready for the next time.

“It’s hopefully given them confidence in what they do as individuals and as a collective.

“But I must say, whether it’s the fans travelling away for three games out of four, whether it’s the staff and the players,
the effort that has been put in that seven points is nothing less than what they deserve for that.”